Ag department criticized over game farms

Former Natural Resources Secretary George Meyer criticized the state
agriculture department Monday for not doing enough to control the
spread of chronic wasting
disease in Wisconsin.

"It is clear that (the department) should have done more to test
and regulate game farms and prohibit the import of elk and deer from
areas with chronic wasting
disease, but they refused to do it," Meyer said.

The agriculture department has known since 1998 that some elk had
been shipped to Wisconsin game farms from out-of-state herds that had
tested positive for the
disease, according to state records.

DNR staff expressed concern that year about the outbreak of the
disease in the West, with one staff member recommending that
Wisconsin place a moratorium on
importing game farm animals for fear that the disease might be
introduced into Wisconsin's wild deer herd, records show. Wisconsin
officials say one possible cause for
the outbreak of the deadly disease here -- first reported on Feb. 28
-- could be traced back to game farms in the West and in Canada,
where the disease has been present
for years.

Meyer served as natural resources secretary from 1993 until
February 2001, when Gov. Scott McCallum succeeded Tommy G. Thompson
and appointed Darrell Bazzell
secretary of the agency. Meyer recently retired from the department.

Meyer was joined by three Dane County supervisors and John
Stauber, a Madison writer and co-author of "Mad Cow U.S.A.," on
Monday to publicly criticize the
agriculture department.

Response to criticism

State Veterinarian Clarence Siroky disputed the claims that the
department has dragged its feet, noting that it approved emergency
rules last month to step up testing and
effectively block the shipment of game animals into the state.

"It's inflammatory," Siroky said. "It's their opinion, and I
don't agreed with it."

He said the agency has monitored 21 elk imported from infected
herds in Colorado and Nebraska. Nineteen have lived longer than the
five years that experts say it takes
for the disease to kill an animal, or they have died and tested negative.

Two other animals died on a game farm in Waupaca County and were
not tested. But Siroky said that other elk on the farm have lived
longer than five years.

Dane County Supervisor Brett Hulsey said the group wants
mandatory testing on game farms for dead and diseased animals. He and
the others called on the Legislature,
which is expected to vote Wednesday on a funding package to fight
the disease, to require mandatory testing of all game farm animals
that die on the farm.

Hulsey blamed the department for worrying more about protecting
game farms than trying to stop chronic wasting disease.

"It's all a pattern of denial," he said.

But Siroky questioned whether the real agenda is to get rid of
game farms altogether.

He said emergency rules approved in early April require testing
for the disease of any farm-raised deer or elk when they died or go
to slaughter. Also, those rules ban the
importing of deer and elk unless those animals have been monitored
for the disease for five years.

He added, however, that the group's recommendations to test all
dead and diseased animals would be too hard to administer. Some game
farms are wooded areas on hundreds
of acres. Ranchers could not monitor all of the animals closely
enough, he said.

Since the DNR reported that three deer shot last fall tested
positive for the disease, a total of 516 deer have been killed near
Mount Horeb in western Dane County. Eleven
tested positive for the disease, which is similar to mad cow
disease. State officials have plans to kill thousands more deer in 10
counties in southern and southwestern
Wisconsin this year.

More shooting today

As part of those control measures, the DNR said it will start
shooting deer today in the 1,153-acre Blue Mound State Park west of
Madison. Sharpshooters from the
agency and the U.S. Agriculture Department will hunt from the ground.

The park closed Monday afternoon and will reopen about noon
today. A handful of campers registered in park will be accompanied
during the shooting by park personnel.

The DNR also said it will not issue permits to shoot deer in a
287-square-mile area near Mount Horeb this week. The agency is
working with Dane County officials to
answer concerns about dumping deer in the county-owned landfill.

The DNR probably will use refrigerated trucks to store the deer
until it works out the disposal issue, officials said.

50 question their safety

In a related development Monday night, about 50 people showed up
at a Vermont Town Board meeting to voice concerns about their safety
when the shooting begins next
week in the area.

Residents asked the DNR to slow plans to eradicate deer in a
surrounding 287-square-mile area until there are more answers about
the agency's plan to kill the animals.
They also asked if the agency said there are any alternatives to
killing thousands of deer in the area.

The Town Board is considering whether to formally oppose the
DNR's plans but took no action Monday.

Chronic wasting disease is a fatal disease of the central nervous
system that affects the brain and spinal cord. There is no evidence
that the disease affects humans or
any species other than deer and elk [There is evidence
that CWD prions can infect human brain tissue--BSE
coordinator].

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